Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley finally seems to have found a buyer for the club: Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a billionaire from the United Arab Emirates. Sheikh Khaled is a relative of Manchester City's owner Sheikh Mansour and he has tried to take over Liverpool last year in a deal that was supposed to be worth 2 billion pounds. That attempt failed, and now Sheikh Khaled would get Newcastle United for a lot less money, the transaction is reportedly worth around 350 million pounds.
"We can confirm the representatives of his Highness Sheikh Khaled Bin Zayed Al Nahyan are in discussions with Mike Ashley and his team about the proposed acquisition of Newcastle United Football Club," a statement from the Bin Zayed Group read. "We view it as an honour to have the opportunity to build on the strong support, history and tradition of the club. We have agreed terms and are working hard to complete the transaction at the earliest opportunity."
Mike Ashley had bought the club in 2007 for around 135 million pounds but never managed to lead it towards its former glory. The fans often criticized Ashley for the club's lack of activity on the transfer market and the results proved them right as Newcastle got relegated from the Premier League twice since Ashley took over. He put the club up for sale in 2008 and in 2009 and also came close to selling in 2017 and 2018, but negotiations with businesswoman Amanda Staveley ended unsuccessfully. Last year even boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. was reportedly interested in buying Newcastle from Mike Ashley.
The best season for Newcastle under Mike Ashley was in 2011-2012, when they finished fifth in the Premier League. Since then they never managed to finish above tenth place and also got relegated to the Championship in 2016. The Magpies finished 13th in the Premier League last season.
Newcastle United are 5/4 at Bet365 to finish in the top half of the Premier League table next season.
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